No resolutions. Only decisions.

With every new year there's a part of me that becomes so overwhelmed with discouragement. I look back over the previous year and see the steady death of every resolution made in a flurry of emotion. It's almost as if the new year is not a celebration of the future, but instead, a funeral of all my failures: every forgotten opportunity, every neglected chance, every missed possibility.

They'll never come again.
They are gone.

Lost forever.

But thankfully, there is today. A new day. A ray of hope. An opportunity to make things different. A chance for true change. Another possibility waiting to be discovered.

This morning, just like you, I woke up. I got dressed and I started living today. And, if the Lord gives me tomorrow, I will do the same. I'll wake up. I'll get dressed. I'll go to work. I'll live my life.

But looking to the end of 2014 there is really only one resolution that matters. Well, really, it's not a resolution at all. It's a decision. Will I make Jesus the center of my life? Will I make Him the most important person? Will I let the values outlined in the Word of God be my guide for this year? Will I live for Him regardless of the popularity of His views? Will I love the unlovely? Will I sacrifice endlessly? Will I let compassion and mercy and grace rule my actions?

Really, there are no resolutions. There are only decisions. A resolution is so easily forgotten, but not a decision. A decision is acted upon with firmness...with resolve (which is different than a resolution)...with intent to finish.

I encourage you, make a decision and let Jesus be the center of your life...of your every move.